EMRISE Corporation, a multi-national manufacturer of defense, aerospace and industrial electronic devices and communications equipment, has promoted veteran corporate controller, Brandi Festa, to director of finance and administration and principal accounting officer, effective immediately. Festa, who was also appointed secretary and treasurer, reports directly to Chairman and CEO Carmine Oliva.

Festa assumes the duties of former CFO D. John Donovan, who is leaving EMRISE by mutual agreement as part of a realignment of the company's corporate finance organization that became effective with the sale of its Advanced Control Components subsidiary. Festa joined EMRISE as corporate controller in May 2007. Her duties have included handling reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), all accounting functions and assisting in managing the company's treasury functions.

Prior to EMRISE, Festa was assistant controller from January 2005 to May 2007 for Stater Bros. Markets, a full service supermarket chain in Southern California. While at Stater Bros. she was responsible for all accounting functions, the SEC reporting required for Stater Bros. public debt, Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance and assisting with the treasurer's duties. From June 2001 to June 2004, Festa was director of financial reporting for Watson Pharmaceuticals, a publicly-traded specialty pharmaceutical company.

Festa began her career at Ernst & Young in 1997. She spent almost three years with Ernst & Young holding a number of increasingly responsible positions in the firm's auditing organization, becoming a senior auditor responsible for auditing small to mid-size, growing, entrepreneurial manufacturing companies.

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